A wireless communication device configured to be capable of performing wireless communication with at least one communication destination device is known. As one of this type of wireless communication devices, a wireless communication device described in Patent Document 1 sets its state to an active state in which the wireless communication device can perform wireless communication with a communication destination device in accordance with a preset first communication scheme. The communication destination device performs wireless communication according to the first communication scheme with the wireless communication device.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-124461
The abovementioned wireless communication device keeps setting its state to the active state even when no communication destination device exists in a region where the wireless communication device can perform wireless communication. Therefore, there is a problem that the amount of electric power consumed by the wireless communication device becomes unnecessarily large.
Thus, it is considered to be favorable to configure a wireless communication device so that the wireless communication device sets its state to a sleep state when a predetermined sleep condition is satisfied. Herein, the sleep state is a state in which the wireless communication device can receive an activation instruction signal according to a second communication scheme requiring smaller electric power for reception of a signal than the first communication scheme and cannot perform wireless communication according to the first communication scheme with the communication destination device.
In general, a communication scheme in which a transmission rate is smaller needs smaller electric power for reception of a signal according to the communication scheme. Herein, the transmission rate is the amount of data transmitted per unit time. Therefore, the second communication scheme is a communication scheme in which the transmission rate is smaller than that in the first communication scheme.
In this case, the communication destination device transmits an activation instruction signal to the wireless communication device. Upon receiving the activation instruction signal, the wireless communication device sets its state to the active state. After that, the communication destination device performs communication with the wireless communication device. According to this, it is possible to decrease the amount of electric power consumed by the wireless communication device.
However, in a case where the communication destination device is a device incapable of transmitting an activation instruction signal, there is a fear that this communication destination device cannot perform communication with the wireless communication device. That is, according to the wireless communication device configured as described above, there is a fear that the amount of electric power consumed by the wireless communication device cannot be decreased and wireless communication with the communication destination device cannot be securely performed.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication device that can solve the abovementioned problem, “in a case where the amount of electric power consumed by the wireless communication device is decreased, there is a possibility that wireless communication with the communication destination device cannot be securely performed.”
On the other hand, it is desirable to keep the state of the wireless communication device (wireless base station) to the active state in order to securely perform wireless communication with the communication destination device incapable of transmitting an activation instruction signal, but there is also a case where it is favorable that decreasing the amount of electric power consumed by the wireless base station takes priority over performing wireless communication with the communication destination device incapable of transmitting an activation instruction signal. However, according to the wireless communication device configured as described above, there is a problem that it is impossible to properly set the state of the wireless communication device depending on the situation.
Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication device that can solve the abovementioned problem, “there is a possibility that it is impossible to properly set the state of the wireless communication device depending on the situation.”